After 11 seasons in a Red Sox uniform, Ortiz has a career batting average of. 292, a career OPS of .962. He has hit 373 home runs, scored 993 runs and driven in 1,191 more. Ortiz played a key role in all three Boston Red Sox World Series titles won during the post-curse era.

Ortiz has hit many memorable walk-off home runs. He's come-up big more than any other hitter in the history of the Red Sox, a team that just happens to be one of major league baseball's oldest franchises. This was no more apparent than when he hit a walk-off home run in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, and a walk-off single less than 24 hours later to win Game 5.

Ortiz has been everything from the unlikely hero, to the undisputed leader of three championship teams.

In 2013, Ortiz missed the start of the season while recovering from an injury. Less than one week after returning from that injury, he gave a memorable speech as part of a moving pre-game tribute dedicated to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

Ortiz capped off 2013 by hitting a dramatic, game-tying, grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 2 of the ALCS. He then went on to have one of the most dominant offensive performances in World Series history.

That's the short version of his historically relevant, and thoroughly impressive, 11-year legacy in Boston.

Is he perfect? Of course not.

Ortiz once famously interrupted a post-game press conference to complain about an official scorers decision. He brutally assaulted a dugout phone in Baltimore. He's also had several public outbursts regarding his contract.

That's basically it. Other than that, there's not too much to gripe about. In a day and age when athletic superstars have to really work to avoid negative press, Ortiz has remained in fairly good graces for 11 years. He's done so while operating in what is widely acknowledged to be one of the most toxic media environments in the nation.

That's probably why when Ortiz hears people lashing out at him for publicly expressing his opinion about his contract status, he gets peeved. Tuesday, Ortiz expressed his very legitimate frustration to John Tomase of the Boston Herald.

“I don't even know why they're bitching about me talking about contracts,” Ortiz said. “Guys putting up my numbers, they're making $25, $30 million. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for half of it. And they're still bitching about it? (Expletive) them. I'm tired of hearing them talk (expletive) about me when I talk about my contract. Hey, every time I talk about my contract, I earn it, (expletive). So don't be giving me that (expletive).”

Keep in mind, Ortiz has short-term contracts because that's what the Red Sox, and Ortiz agree on. If Ortiz were anything like many of today's modern athletes, he'd hit the free agent market and be on his way. To anyone who doesn't think he'd be able to land a better deal on the open market, don't bet against it.

This is major league baseball. The same league in which Masahiro Tanaka landed a $155 million contract without ever throwing a pitch on American soil.

Adam Dunn is about to play the final-year of a four-year, $56 million contract. Dunn has almost as many strikeouts in the last six seasons (1,128) as Ortiz has in his entire 11 year career in Boston (1,135.) Dunn has zero World Series rings, and is a career .238 hitter (but with a .861 OPS). By the time his current contract expires, Dunn will have earned a total of $112,695,000. Ortiz's contract also expires at the end of this coming season. Big Papi will have taken home a total of $127,512,500. Ortiz will have spent a 18 years in the majors, Dunn has played 14 seasons.

That means that Dunn has averaged $8,049,643 per year, while Ortiz has averaged $7,084,028 per year. That's a million more a year for a guy who's been outpaced by Ortiz in most offensive categories for most of the past decade. It is hard to compare the postseason numbers because Adam Dunn has never played in a postseason game.

Ortiz has. In fact, he's played in a lot of them. Ortiz is a career .295 postseason hitter, with an OPS of .962. He has played in 82 games -- one more than a half-season -- of postseason baseball. Ortiz has 17 home runs, 60 RBIs and 21 doubles, not bad for a half-season of work. If you narrow it down to just the World Series, Ortiz looks even better. He's got a career batting average of .455 with an OPS of 1.372.

So there you have it. Ortiz is not underpaid by the standards set for most jobs, but in the world of major league baseball, he is underpaid. Not only that, but he's got only a few years left in his career to make the outrageous money that major league baseball players are privileged enough to receive.

Yet for some reason, whenever he mentions his contract, people erupt.

Masslive.com's Ron Chimelis is of the opinion that Ortiz uses the negative comments to help motivate him. That might be the case, or perhaps the heart-on-his-sleeve slugger really is offended by the reality that, as soon as he mentions his contract, people act as if he's the most selfish, overrated, overpaid player in Red Sox history.

What modern major league baseball player has been as good as Ortiz and has gone his entire career without voicing some sort of negative opinion on his contract?

Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees is generally considered one of major league baseball's finest examples of both on, and off-field performance. The word "class," is often attached to any description of Jeter's persona.

That doesn't mean he never played out a contentious contract negotiation in public. Following the 2010 season, Jeter's 10-year, $189 million contract had expired. He wanted to re-sign with the Yankees. A deal was eventually agreed to, but not before the two sides exchanged some not-so-nice sentiments through the media.

Jeter went through his agent, Ortiz chooses to speak his mind on his own. It might come out in a less polished manner, but the sentiment is the same.

At this point, if David Ortiz still hasn't earned your respect, then it is time to reassess your standards. You might not see another member of the Boston Red Sox with a career like Big Papi's for a very long time. Perhaps everyone should spend more time enjoying Ortiz, and a little less worrying about what he gets paid.